The biggest PAC in 2026 isn't Big Pharma or Wall Street. It's a foreign lobby. And they're not the only ones buying Congress.

AIPAC is the single largest political action committee in the 2026 election cycle — outspending the next biggest PAC by more than three times, with roughly $28 million funneled to members of Congress. Legis1 They also operate through a network of shell PACs with names that have nothing to do with Israel, making the money harder to trace. Legis1

But AIPAC is just the most visible player. Four of the top ten spenders on foreign government lobbying are Middle Eastern countries: Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. DAWN An estimated $4.1 billion in foreign lobbying has poured into Washington since 2016. DAWN Nearly 100 former members of Congress have gone on to lobby for foreign governments since 2000. Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Saudi foreign agents have secured private meetings with members of Congress and successfully killed legislation that would have let 9/11 families sue Saudi Arabia. Washington Examiner Read that again. A foreign government lobbied our representatives to protect itself from the families of people who died on American soil. And it worked.

Whether you support Israel, Saudi Arabia, or none of them isn't the point. Multiple foreign governments are spending billions to shape who represents you and what policies they support — while we argue about whatever cable news put in front of us this morning.

Not a guy with a briefcase full of cash. A system so flooded with foreign money that your representative doesn't need to listen to you anymore. They've got better-paying clients.

This is the kind of thing we should be talking about.

Sources:

• AIPAC record spending in 2026 — Legis1
• Foreign lobbying in the U.S. — Quincy Institute
• Foreign influence spending — Washington Examiner